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Fire lookout · Lemhi County, Idaho

Middle Fork Peak Lookout

R-6 flat cab on a 10-ft concrete base replaced a 1929 cabin on Middle Fork Peak in Idaho in 1962; the summer staffing status is disputed between sources.

Visit & stay

Not rentable. As far as we know, this lookout cannot be booked for overnight stays.

Access

Open to the public. Forest Service road to the summit; the 2018 climbing guide says a 4WD vehicle with exceptionally good tires is required. Idaho Fire Lookouts lists the site as drive-up.

Can you climb it?
Unknown
Road to the top?
Yes, you can drive up
Trail
Per the 2018 climbing guide: a route starting at Panther Creek follows FS-112 about 15 miles to a 4-way junction, then 14.25 miles to the road end below the summit. A trail from the Middle Fork Salmon River gains about 5,000 feet.
Staffing
Staffed during fire season

Facts

Status
Standing
Type
Two-story buildingR-6 flat cab on 10-ft concrete base (built 1962)The design: R-6
Built of
WoodGoing by its design; no source says so in words.
Built
1929
Height
10 ft (3.0 m)
Elevation
9,127 ft (2,782 m)
Agency
U.S. Forest Service, Salmon-Challis National Forest (Salmon-Cobalt Ranger District)
Land
Federal land
Location
Lemhi County, Idaho
Coordinates
44.96211, −114.65540
This entry
VerifiedResearched, then checked independently. Updated 8 Oct 2026.
Firefinder id
us-id-middle-fork-peak

View from the cab

What you see from the cab: every ridge out to about 93 miles, the named peaks in sight, and other fire lookouts within view, worked out from terrain data in your browser.

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History

Then and now

  1. 1929 BuiltFirst lookout on the site, a cabin; sources disagree on its type (DuBois cabin per NHLR, R-4 log cabin per Idaho Fire Lookouts)Sources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com
  2. No record between 1929 and 1962
  3. 1962 Built'Built' field on NHLR detail pageSource: NHLR register entry
  4. 1962 Replaced by a new structureReplaced by the present R-6 flat cab on a 10-ft concrete baseSources: nhlr.org, firelookout.com, idahofirelookouts.com
  5. No record between 1962 and 2012
  6. 2012 Added to the National Historic Lookout RegisterRegistered September 13, 2012 as US 949, ID 101Source: nhlr.org
  7. TodayStandingIt still stands, as far as our sources know.

Old maps of this spot

USGS topographic maps from the years a lookout stood may show it, often as a small symbol labelled “Lookout”. See the old topo maps around it on the Firefinder map, or find every scanned sheet of this spot on USGS TopoView (click the spot there to list them, with dates and downloads).

Story

Researched 8 Oct 2026, fact-checked.

Middle Fork Peak Lookout sits on a 9,127-foot summit about 40 miles southwest of Salmon, in Lemhi County, Idaho.1,2 The register lists the site on the Salmon National Forest, in the Salmon-Cobalt Ranger District, while a Forest Service page now uses the name Salmon-Challis National Forest for the unit.1,3

The first lookout on the summit was a cabin built in 1929.1,2,4 The sources disagree on its type: the register calls it a DuBois cabin, while Idaho Fire Lookouts lists an R-4 log cabin.1,4 In 1962 the present lookout, a flat R-6 cab on a 10-foot concrete base, replaced it.1,2,4

A 1982 account by Bing Young, quoted in a 2018 climbing guide, says the peak appears as a lookout in the 1919 to 1923 fire plans and describes a newer building that has replaced an early-1920s structure.5 That earlier date does not match the 1929 date given elsewhere, and these sources do not settle which is right.1,2,4,5

Staffing is disputed. The Forest Service says the Middle Fork lookout is still staffed each summer, along with two other lookouts.3 That page was last updated on May 22, 2025, so it predates the 2026 season and cannot settle the current status.3 Idaho Fire Lookouts lists the tower as not staffed for 2025 and 2026.4 None of these sources names a notable fire at the lookout.1,2,4,3,5

The register added the lookout on September 13, 2012, as US 949, ID 101.1 Idaho Fire Lookouts describes it as drive-up.4 The 2018 climbing guide says the road stops just below the summit, about 14 miles past a junction, and that a 4WD vehicle with exceptionally good tires is needed.5 Check current road and staffing conditions with the Forest Service before you go.

  1. Middle Fork Peak Lookout, National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org), http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/id/middle-fork-peak-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  2. Middle Fork Peak Fire Lookout Tower, firelookout.com, https://www.firelookout.com/id/middleforkpeak.html (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  3. Fire Lookouts, Salmon-Challis National Forest, U.S. Forest Service, https://www.fs.usda.gov/r04/salmon-challis/recreation/discover-history/fire-lookouts (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  4. Middle Fork Peak Lookout, Idaho Fire Lookouts (idahofirelookouts.com), https://www.idahofirelookouts.com/southern-idaho/middle-fork-peak-lookout/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩
  5. Middle Fork Peak, IDAHO: A Climbing Guide (idahoaclimbingguide.com), https://www.idahoaclimbingguide.com/bookupdates/middle-fork-peak/ (accessed 2026-10-08). ↩

Photos

Photo of Middle Fork Peak Lookout
Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Interior
InteriorPhoto: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Kitchen
KitchenPhoto: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
View from lookout, 2009
View from lookout, 2009 (2009)Photo: National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved · source
Middle Fork Peak original cabin
Middle Fork Peak original cabinPhoto: U.S. Forest Service and Steve Sidlo, via firelookout.com · source
Middle Fork Peak L.O.
Middle Fork Peak L.OPhoto: U.S. Forest Service and Steve Sidlo, via firelookout.com · source
Middle Fork Peak Lookout
Middle Fork Peak LookoutPhoto: idahofirelookouts.com · source

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Sources

  1. National Historic Lookout Register (NHLR) Gave us: name, location, county, elevation, register numbers, agency, ownership, dates, photos, links National Historic Lookout Register (nhlr.org) · All rights reserved (American Resources, Inc.); facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  2. Forest Fire Lookout Association (FFLA) - US lookout lists Gave us: type, status, register numbers, links Forest Fire Lookout Association (firelookout.org) · No licence stated; facts extracted only, no prose copied. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  3. firelookout.com -- Rex Kamstra's Forest Fire Lookout Page Gave us: what it is built of, design, height, photos, links firelookout.com · No licence stated on the site; facts only (coordinates, elevation, built/destroyed years, design, agency). Photos mirrored with the site's stated credit. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  4. Idaho Fire Lookouts (idahofirelookouts.com) Gave us: staffing, photos, links idahofirelookouts.com · No licence stated; facts only (coordinates, status/built/destroyed year parsed from each entry's short excerpt). Thumbnail photos mirrored with credit per the project's photo policy. · retrieved 4 Oct 2026
  5. FOREST LOOKOUTS -- western US (Ron Kemnow's weebly sites) Gave us: links Ron Kemnow's Forest Lookouts sites (westlookouts, californialookouts, idaholookouts, montanalookouts, oregonlookouts and washingtonlookouts .weebly.com) · No licence stated; facts only (county, land manager, status word, coordinates where the page's own map widget gives them, township-range-section, height and design hints, links). The site's own newspaper quotes, citations and narrative are not reproduced. · retrieved 8 Oct 2026
  6. Firefinder research Gave us: summary, design, agency, access, visiting details, dates, links, fact-check Firefinder research (sources cited in the story footnotes) · Our own research notes; each fact cites its source in the lookout's story

More about this lookout elsewhere

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